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Those Thalys' GI Heroes Train Fares...

The U.S. GIs and their friend are heroes no doubt and this post has nothing to do with that act of bravery (also involving a Brit and a French-American guy but the approximately $230 train fare these three each paid for fully-flexible full fare 1st class tickets and then sitting in 2nd class!

Most GIs I think and students are on budgets and if buying full-fare tickets would at least go 2nd class and these days would have easily booked discounted tickets for half that sum - or do GIs get some kind of price cut.

Anyway they said they were going to take the train from Amsterdam to Paris a day earlier but decided to stay in Amsterdam another day (shock, shock, shock!) - meaning they had ful-fare tickets.

And after getting first class they sit in 2nd class until the WI-FI don't work so well and they move to their first class seats.

I understand they are train rookies perhaps but seem to have been on a high expense budget.

Just curious about why they spent so much - and the terrorist bought 136 euro first class tickets from Brussels to Paris - seems he could have bought 2nd class ones too and then gone into first class to do his dastardly deed.

Do most young Americans travel this way - on such high budgets they can pay top dollar for a 3.5 hour train ride?

Again no criticism of them at all - bravo - just curious as to full-fare first class tickets and then sitting in 2nd class!

They probably don't know a lot about European train fares and aren't reading Fodors. Secondly, they could have wanted fully flexible tickets, some people do, you can't fault them for that. As for first vs. second class, maybe the difference wasn't very much, sometimes it isn't.

How do you know they had tickets? Maybe they had a Eurailpass of some kind? They were there 2-3 weeks, that wouldn't be surprising at all. And those have discounts for groups of that size.

And maybe they had some rich aunt who paid for them all as a gift, who knows. Lots of options for why they did that.

I haven't seen any reporting referring to them as "GIs", a term from WWII. They were called servicemen, and one was in the National Guard which wouldn't be called a GI, anyway, AFAIK (if anyone still used that term for military personnel or service members).

Yes I suppose they could have had a railpass - never thought they would but could - they were under 26 so could have bought a much cheaper youthpass in 2nd class... just curious - $220 seems a lot to pay for a 3.5 hour train ride.

Compared with Europeans, few Americans ride trains. Outside of a few cities, our systems are just not than convenient, plus (unfortunately and sadly) we are very much a car society.

Most young Americans who do not travel in Europe have little to no experience with public transportation, and do not even think about looking for advice about it. They may buy through an agency with a markup and not realize it. They may not know about any type of discounts.

My own experience. DH and I were buying last minute tickets someplace. We walked into the station and saw the sign Ticket Agent. We wrongly assumed it was a regular ticket office because lots of people were purchasing. It turned out to be a travel agency renting the space. After getting quotes and times, DH was shocked and upset, but was ready to buy because it was last minute, and he was afraid of missing the train. I do most of our reseach and said no, it was crazy, that there had to be more trains and much lower cost. We went to information and found that the regular ticket office was in another part of the station. With Seniors discount and taking a slightly later train, our tickets were only about 20 euro rather than the agent's quote of 100 euro. Made me wonder how many people might have paid the high price for lack of knowledge. I do all train research on line now.

It isn't that people have money to throw around. They may not know better at the time.

Sandra - they moved to first class only because the WI-FI in 2nd class was not up to par - info says but good theory - I think these novice train riders didn't know the difference between first and second class and just sat down in the first empty seat. Surprised conductor didn't come by and check tickets and seats.

>>>but the approximately $230 train fare these three each paid for fully-flexible full fare 1st class tickets and then sitting in 2nd class!<<<<

How do you know they bought fully-flexible?

>>>Anyway they said they were going to take the train from Amsterdam to Paris a day earlier but decided to stay in Amsterdam another day (shock, shock, shock!) - meaning they had ful-fare tickets.<<<

Doesn't mean they waited until the next day to buy their ticket. That's an assumption you are making. Even if they decided the day before to stay in Amsterdam an extra day, they still could have purchased tickets when they decided that and bought semi-flexible at a discount.

It's also possible they bought the youth ticket which you can get in 1st class for 103€ (2nd class for the same youth ticket is 92€). For 11€ difference, they might have decided 1st was a good deal.

Routes
From:
Amsterdam Centraal

To:
Paris Nord

Comfort 1 Comfort 2
103 € 92 €
- 66 €
- 45 €

Fare name: YOUTH
Single ticket available.
In Comfort 2 or Comfort 1.
Be under 26 on the day of travel.
Subject to availability.
After sales

Exchangeable once prior to departure and up to 1 hour afterwards at the Thalys departure station.
100% refundable prior to departure and up to 1 hour afterwards at the Thalys departure station.